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sat down in a big, soft chair. She had a strange feeling that she must be in the wrong house. How could her uncle have so much when her father had had so little?
    An enormous old black woman knocked and then came on in with a tray of food, followed by a young black girl with a bucket of water.
    â€œI’m Lou, Aunt Lou, they call me, my child. I keeps this house together.” She set the tray on a table nearby and stood before Mandie. “Now, what might be your name?”
    â€œAmanda Shaw, Aunt Lou. My daddy was Jim Shaw, John’s brother.” She lifted the cloth covering the food and exclaimed, “Oh, thank you, Aunt Lou. I’ll eat every bite; I’m so hungry.”
    â€œWell, you’d better had if you gonna stay around here. Now this here’s Liza. She’ll be lookin’ after you whiles you here.” She beckoned to the young girl who still stood behind her. Liza came forward and poured the water into the pitcher on the washstand.
    â€œGuess you’d better wash that dirty face ’fore you eat.” Aunt Lou smiled at her. “Liza, you comb that pretty hair for my child. But let her eat first.”
    Aunt Lou left the room and Mandie went to wash her face in the bowl of water.
    â€œI be back later, Miss Amanda,” Liza told her. “You want anything, all you has to do is pull that cord over there.”
    â€œPull that cord?” Mandie asked, looking to where Liza was pointing toward the drapery beside the bed.
    Liza laughed and danced around the room. “That makes a bell ring down at the other end where I hear it and I knows you calling me.” She danced on out the door, laughing.
    Snowball came running into the room and jumped up into Amanda’s lap as she sat down to eat.
    â€œYou just wait, Snowball. You have to eat on the floor. Here,” she said, putting him down and giving him some milk in a saucer that had been on her tray. She added a bit of bacon. “Now you eat it all up because we’re going to take a nap.”
    True to her word, she, with Snowball’s help, ate every bite of the food and then, pulling down the silky bedspread, she flopped onto the big soft bed and fell fast asleep with the kitten curled up beside her.
    At noontime Liza came to call the girl to dinner and had to wake her.
    â€œTime to eat, Miss Amanda,” Liza said, shaking the girl.
    Mandie sat up rubbing her eyes. “Eat? I just ate. Oh, goodness, what time is it?” Snowball rose and stretched.
    â€œIt’s time to eat again. Wash your face and I’ll comb that hair,” Liza told her.
    The black girl quickly unbraided Mandie’s hair, combed out the many tangles and then braided it again.
    â€œI think I’ll wash your hair later,” Liza suggested.
    â€œOh, yes, it is dirty,” Mandie agreed, remembering the bed of twigs she had slept on and the many miles she had walked through briars, dusty roads and river water.
    â€œLater,” Liza said. “Now you just follow me. I’ll show you where the food be.”
    They went back down the long, carpeted hall, down the elaborate staircase and through another long hall into the most beautiful room Mandie had ever seen. A huge crystal chandelier hung over an enormous dining table covered with a crocheted tablecloth and set with one place at the end for her. Silver candelabra stood at intervals along the table. A whole wall was covered by a tapestry of peacocks and flowers. The opposite side of the room had long French doors opening onto a terrace. Mandie stopped to gaze about the room.
    â€œHere, missy, down to this end,” Liza beckoned to her as she pulled out a chair with a velvet seat. “You set right here and I bring on the food.”
    Mandie, still speechless, walked to the chair and sat down. Then she turned quickly as the girl turned to leave the room. “What do you have to eat?”
    â€œAnything you want, missy. Ham, chicken, sweet